Thomas jones



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. T. JONES. APPARATUS FOR G'ALVANIZING WROUGHT 0R CAST IRON AND STEEL.

No. 476,651. Patented June 7, 1892.

Wfrzexex- J d! fizwnr V wa/vlo (No Model.) 2 Sheet-sSheet 2. T. JONES. APPARATUS FOR GALVANIZING WROUGHT 0R CAST IRON AND STEEL.

No. 476,651. Patented June '7, 1892.

STATES ATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS JONES, OF NETHERTON, ENGLAND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476,651, dated June '7, 1892.

Application filed December 31, 1891. Serial No. 416,618. (No model.)

To to whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, THOMAS JONES, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Netherton, England, have invented certain Improvements in Apparatus for Galvanizing Wrought or Cast Iron and Steel; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention,which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to facilitate the galvanizing of wrought or cast iron and steel pipes, bars, and hoops and other articles by removing them from the galvanizing bath of melted zinc by means of machinery constructed and operating in the manner hereinafter explained.

I will describe my invention in connection with the galvanizing of an iron pipe.

The said machinery consists, essentially, of the following parts: An inclined platform, the lower end of which is situated at that end of the bath of molten zinc from which the pipe is to be drawn, has at top and bottom pulleys over which an endless band or chain passes. The axes of the said pulleys are horizontal. Traveling on rollers up and down the said inclined platform is a carrier supporting a pair of forceps or a gripper. By the closing of the gripper its jaws grip the tube or article being operated upon. Motion is communicated to the upper pulley of the endless band or chain and the motion of the said endless band or chain reversed by two bevel-wheels actuated from the driving-shaft and reversed by the action of a sliding clutch operated by a handlever.

The machinery is used in the following man-- ner: The pipe is immersed in the galvanizingbath in the usual way and after having remained therein sufficiently long is raised from the bath and one of its ends introduced between the jaws of the forceps or gripper, which are closed upon it. The endless band being put in motion by the workman, the galvanized pipe gripped by the gripper is drawn up the inclinedplatform. Whenithasnearlyreached the top of the inclined platform, the motion of the endless band is reversed. The gripper is opened, and, losing its hold on the tube, the latter falls through a slot in the inclined platform into a water-trough or other receptacle. The gripper, descending to the bottom of the inclined platform, is ready to receive another pipe from the bath, which on the reversal of the motion of the endless band is gripped and carried up the inclined platform, as before described.

The machinery may be used for removing two or more galvanized pipes or articles at the same time, instead of a single pipe or article.

I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the mannor in which my invention is to be performed.

Figure 1 represents in side elevation, and Fig. 2 in plan, machinery constructed according to my invention to be used in galvanizing tubes, bars, hoops, and the like. Fig. 3 represents in cross-section the cooling-trough and one of the tube supporting and raising levers in the said trough. Fig. 4 represents in front elevation, drawn to a large scale, the asbestus dies which I prefer to use for removing the superfluous zinc from the tubes as they are drawn from the galvanizing-bath. Fig. 5 represents in side elevation, Fig. 6 in plan, and Fig. 7 in cross-section, a portion of the inclined platform and bath and the gripper and its carrier drawn to a larger scale; and Fig. 8 represents in end elevation, partly in section, drawn to a larger scale, the endless band or chain driving and reversing mechanism of the gripper-carrier.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the draw ings.

a is the bath containing the melted zinc, from which bath the galvanized pipes (or other like articles) are to be drawn.

b is the inclined slotted platform, thelower end of which is situated at the end of the bath from which the galvanized pipes or articles are to be drawn.

0 and d are pulleys at the bottom and top of the platform I), over which pulleys the endless band or chain c passes. Traveling on the said platform and situated over the slot 19 at its middle is the carrier f, mounted upon wheels, (see Fig. 7,) which supports the gripper g, the said carrier being connected at h to the endless chain or band e. The long arms of the gripper are slightly tapered (see ig. 6) and are situated in the forked uprights t and 713 on the carrier f. The forked upright 71; is of less width than the other forked upright 71, so that when the long arms of the gripper have been closed for causing the ripper-jaws to grip the tube Ztheweight of the gripped tube tends to wedge the said gripper-arms in the uprights z' 7.; and prevent longitudinal back motion on the said gripper. The gripping-jaws are maintained in their closed position by the cross-pin or cotter i passed through holes in the wider fork 2' on the gripper-carrierf. The long arms of the gripper g are separated for opening the grip ping-jaws and releasing the tube when the gripper-carrier has nearly reached the top of the inclined platform Z) by means of the fixed stop 912, over which the upper longarm of the gripper rides. (See Figs. 1 and 2.)

Under the inclined platform Z) is a water trough or tank a, into which the coated tubes released from the carrier f and falling through the slot b in the platform Z) are received for cooling the said tubes. Crossing the said trough or tank at is a series of curved levers p, on which the tubes falling into the said trough are received and supported. (See Fig. 3.) These levers are carried on the axis 19 worked by the hand-wheel 13 the said axis turning in bearings on the side of the water-trough it.

By operating on the hand-wheel p the curved arms of the levers 11, supporting the galvanized tubes, can be lifted out of the trough 11 when it is required to remove the said tubes.

The superfluous zinc coating is removed from the tube as it is drawn from the bath by the asbestus dies q g the lower die q being fixed and the other die (1 being carried by a weighted lever. As these asbestus clearingdies constitute no part of my invention, I do not consider afurther description of the same necessary.

The mechanism for driving and reversing the motion of the endless band or chain c is situated at the higher end of theinclined platform 1) and consists of the following parts: The axis (1 of the higher pulley (Z of the endless band or chain is prolonged, and working loosely upon it are two bevel-toothed wheels 'r and T with which the middle bevel-toothed wheel 7' gears, the said middle bevel-wheel receiving rotatory motion from a driving-band passing over the pulley s on the shaft of the said middle bevel-wheel. By the rotation of the middle wheel 1' rotatory motion in opposite directions is communicated to the wheels r and r Sliding on and connected to the shaft (Z of the pulley d by a sliding key and keyway and situated between the bevel-wheels r 7' is a sliding clutch i, having clutch-teeth on its opposite faces. By sliding the clutch if in one direction on its shaft the clutch-teeth on one face can be engaged with the wheel 7' and that wheel thereby geared to the shaft (Z (see the dotted position in Fig. 8,) and by sliding the clutch t in the opposite direction the opposite face of the said clutch can be engaged with the other wheel 7 and that wheel geared with the shaft (1 In this way rotatory motion in one or other direction is imparted to the shaft (1 and the pulley d, and the motion of the endless band 6 thereby reversed. The sliding clutch 25 is operated by the lever to, the fork of which embraces a collar of the said sliding clutch. The cl utch-lever uis operated from the hand-lever r, situated near the bath ct. The axis 11 of the said lever 1: passes to the other end of the machine and carries the vertical slotted link '20, the upper end of which is jointed by a pin and slot to the bottom of the long arm of the clutch-lever a. By pulling the hand-lever Q; from or pushing it toward the bath a, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 8, it operates the axis 19 and link to, and the latter gives the required motion to the lever a necessary to engage the a clutch t with one or other of the bevel-toothed wheels *r or T The positions which the lever u and link to take in order to gear the clutch t with the wheel 0' are indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 8.

The machinery is used as follows:' The tube having been immersed. in the bath a sufficiently to galvanize it, the said tube is raised from the bath and one of its ends passed between the asbestus dies g g for removing the superfluous zinc from it. The end of the tube is then introduced between the open jaws of the gripper g. The long arms of the gripper g are then closed and preserved closed by the pin or cotter i being passed through the holes 011 the forked upright 2'. The tube being thus gripped by the gripper, the endless band or chain 6 is put in motion by the workman opl erating the sliding clutcht through the handlever '0, axis 12 link to, and lever to, and the galvanized tube is drawn up the inclined platform Z). Just before the gripper g reaches the stop m nearthe top of the inclined platform,as

, indicated in dotted lines inFig. 1,the workman withdraws the pin or cotter i and by the action of the said stop m the long arms of the gripper are opened and the tube released from the jaws of the said gripper. The released tube falls into the cooling-trough n and is reery, two (or more) pairs of grippers are arranged on the same carrier and the slot on the inclined platform is made sufficiently wide to permit of the passage through it to the cooling-trough of two (or more) tubes or articles.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention and the manner of performing the same, I declare that I claim as my invention- 1. In apparatus for removing material from a galvanizing bath, the combination, with an inclined slotted platform, of an endless chain carried by pulleys on said platform, a gripper-carrier connected to said chain, a gripper carried by said gripper-carrier, and means for driving said chain, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with an inclined slotted platform and a galvanizing bath located near one end thereof, of an endless chain carried by pulleys on said platform, a grippercarrier connected to said chain, a gripper carried by said gripper-carrier, gear mechanism for driving said chain, and devices for revers- THOMAS JONES. [11. s.] Witnesses:

RICHARD SKERRETT, ARTHUR JOHN PoWELL. 

